Regarding "Uber Enron? (Page B6, Thursday), Uber as Enron? How, um, creative. Maybe you haven't noticed, but sports teams throughout the country - including the Astros via what they call dynamic pricing - are similarly pricing their otherwise identical service or product according to continuous changes in demand. I guess that makes the Astros like Enron too, which brings us full circle right back to Enron Field.

Earth to Houston: Uber hasn't destroyed the taxi industry (or anything else) in New York or the many other cities where it flourishes. Houston will survive Uber.

Perhaps then Houston can even face the harrowing threat of food trucks.

Regarding "A call to consolidate" (Page B8, Wednesday), the editorial gives a deserving pat on the back to Judge Ed Emmett for pointing out the need for regional governing authorities in Harris County.

Judge Emmett has always seemed reasonable and measured in his comments and approach to problems. But his comments include one about the city of Houston's policy of cherry-picking annexation, that leads one to believe he might be suggesting a much broader effort by the city of Houston in annexing as the way to provide unincorporated areas with municipal governance. This supposedly would reduce the maze of government entities and therefore the overall cost of governance in the county.

The editorial ends with the observation that few elected officials are even willing to talk about the subject, as it's certain most Harris County residents in unincorporated areas will say they they are happy right where they are. The last thing they want is big brother Houston getting in their pockets and otherwise telling them what to do.

This prompts the thought that striving to spread democracy and prosperity through conventional diplomatic, economic or even military means may be unnecessary or even counterproductive.

It may be more effective to simply flood our opponents' societies with cheap smartphones and stand back. Even that may be unnecessary, as the world appears to be purchasing plenty of the phones already.